


Read Receipt

by sperrywink



Series: The Written Word [3]
Category: Glee
Genre: Letters, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:21:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27859737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sperrywink/pseuds/sperrywink
Summary: Sebastian receives Blaine's letter. Well, damn.
Relationships: Blaine Anderson/Sebastian Smythe
Series: The Written Word [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2037511
Comments: 4
Kudos: 24





	Read Receipt

**Author's Note:**

> I never intended to add to the 2 drabbles that make up the first parts of this series, but here we are. Enjoy.

When Sebastian received the thick envelope with the handwritten address, he didn’t recognize the handwriting. He turned it over to check for a return address, but there wasn’t one. Intrigued, he opened it with the letter opener he kept on his desk and flipped to the back of the last page.

Shocked, he just stared for a long moment. Why would Blaine Anderson be writing him? Why would Blaine Anderson be writing him a four-page, double-sided manifesto? Although Sebastian and the Warblers had helped with Blaine’s proposal a year ago, he and Blaine had not left high school with their relationship on good terms.

Given Sebastian’s mixed feelings about Blaine, he knew he should burn the thing just like he had burned _his_ farewell letter to Blaine a good ten months ago, but curiosity got the better of him. Cursing himself out, he settled into his chair and flipped back to the beginning. It started with “Dear Sebastian,” and he was already huffing in disbelief. They were not pen-pals, what the fuck.

Rolling his eyes and sneering, he settled in for what was sure to be one of Blaine’s Pollyanna ‘let’s all be friends’ screeds. Just what he needed to top off an already challenging week of exams in organic chemistry and differential equations. Damn Dalton and it’s college-credit course load in senior year. Entering CalSci as a sophomore was great and all until finals week hit and he was knee-deep in benzene-related formulas and advanced calculus. Again, he told himself just to burn the thing, but as always with Blaine, his heart got the better of his intellect. 

Now rolling his eyes at himself, he started reading for real, expecting some sort of half-assed olive branch of friendship. The first, short paragraph was full of the usual pleasantries, how he had gotten Sebastian’s address from Thad, and inquiries into his health and were totally what he expected. The second paragraph was where his eyes started blinking rapidly to make sure he was reading the letter correctly. What the actual fuck?

Because while he always knew Blaine and Kurt fucking Hummel would self-implode as a relationship, he didn’t expect it to happen less than five months after Blaine’s proposal. He also didn’t expect Blaine to write him a four-page letter to bitch and moan about it, but apparently, here they were. Now, Sebastian knew he should stop reading and burn the thing, but he was reinvested in their train-wreck once again. He said, “Fuck my life,” and turned to the second page.

The second page started with, “I don’t want to talk about Kurt anymore. He is out of my life for good,” and Sebastian muttered, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Blaine continued to talk about where he was emotionally and how his therapy was helping him value himself again. The part of Sebastian that still wanted the best for Blaine was thrilled, but this also made Sebastian feel contrarily angry with himself. He hadn’t been to therapy, but he had spent the last year trying to get over Blaine. To feel like he was back at Dalton with all those messy feelings was extremely disheartening. He didn’t want to care that Blaine was coming into his own; he wanted to be indifferent to it. Or if that wasn’t possible, he wanted to be angry enough with Blaine to burn this stupid letter. But he wasn’t there yet. He wondered if he _had_ gone to therapy, he would be there. It was something to think about at any rate. He didn’t want to be dancing to Blaine’s tune again.

Still cursing himself, he read all about how Blaine was coming into his own. He was going to school for music production at The Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at Tisch because it had business classes, and it had been a compromise with his dad regarding an arts degree. Still, as it turned out, he was loving it. That traitorous part of Sebastian was happy again that Blaine was pursuing music and might follow his talent wherever it might lead. He had always known Blaine was beyond talented and had charisma for days. Blaine also talked about his personal life and Sam trying to be a model, and Tina at the University of Michigan. He didn’t mention a new significant other. Sebastian hated that he made a note of that.

Finally, Blaine wound down on that topic near the middle of the back of the second page, and instead, he started talking about their relationship during high school. In the beginning, it was all about Blaine’s perspective on some of the highlights – Sebastian replaced that with lowlights – of their relationship over the two years they knew each other in high school, which was revelatory for Sebastian. Reading that Blaine hadn’t been indifferent to him, that he had enjoyed Sebastian’s attention, even if he hated himself for it, was validating. But then Blaine started analyzing Sebastian’s actions, and it started cutting too close to the bone. It made Sebastian feel vulnerable as Blaine called him out on his obsession and for treating Blaine like a prize to be won.

The horrible part was that Sebastian knew Blaine was right. What had started out as a flirtation had gone into some dark places as Blaine resisted him and as Sebastian began to understand just how special Blaine was even as he ignored Sebastian and clung to Kurt like an ambition-less limpet. Seeing Blaine shrinking behind Kurt always twisted him into the darkest version of himself. He wasn’t proud of his time in Ohio, and he hated Blaine at that moment in making him face it all over again, partly because it meant this letter was still all about Blaine and Blaine getting closure and had nothing to do with him. He began to wonder why exactly Blaine had mailed this stupid thing instead of burning it as Sebastian had done with his.

And then he hit the fourth page, which was revelatory because it was all about Sebastian. Blaine talked about how talented he thought Sebastian was, how he made Blaine laugh, and how he envied Sebastian for how he accepted his sexuality in such an out and proud way. Blaine wrote that it was one thing to recognize he liked men, but another to recognize what that meant in terms of visceral sexual acts, and it was Sebastian’s confidence that made him see that. Sebastian could read between the lines. Kurt was still a judgmental prude even as Blaine wanted more.

The back of the page wound up his view of Sebastian, and Sebastian was glad. He could only take so much honesty at a time, damn it. Even as he told himself that, he wanted to bask in the feeling Blaine’s words created. He had never had anyone value him as these words did. Which was sad and probably did highlight the need for therapy, but he ignored that voice. 

Finally, Blaine began wrapping up the letter and said he wished they could be friends again going forward. Instead of closing salutations, he just left his phone number and his name written in the curlicue writing Sebastian was now used to.

“Well, fuck.”

Sebastian wasn’t sure he wanted any reminders of Ohio, even Blaine or maybe especially Blaine, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to toss the letter either. Folding it up, he put it back in the envelope and placed it in the back of his bottommost drawer. He could figure it out after finals.


End file.
